Standard Series Jazz Bass Fretless Replacement Neck - Pau Ferro Fingerboard Review

Needs a luthier or DIY but GREAT

I love the mellower sound of a fretless bass, so I knew this was a great choice, being genuine Fender and way cheaper than a full custom made neck. When it arrived I learned I was in for a bit of a project. The nut has only pilot slots which means the strings sit too high out of the box.I ordered a set of nut files, cost me about $, and I spent a couple nights carefully making… read more sure it was just right. Measure, file, measure, file...I am sure if someone had done it before or was a pro, it would be a piece of cake, but for me it was a bit of an adventure.In the end, I ended up with exactly what I was after, and I am super happy to have a fretless neck with fret markers. You can play it pretty much normally, but without that 'clack' of fretted basses, and the tone of my J-Bass is completely that mellow jazz bass tone...and you can just slide beautifully between notes.I love how it sounds and how unique it is. If you're up for a little adventure/project, I highly recommend it!

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Fretless Fender bass neck

Well cut, solid and accurate. A little pricey until you discover that a neck made in Pomona is 3x the cost. I'd buy it again.

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A good fretless neck

I like this neck. I've had a Mexican Fender jazz bass for years and years, a wonderful instrument. So much so that I bought a 5-string American version with a few bells and whistles because I wanted the fifth string badly enough. Having no need for the 4-string anymore, I changed the neck on it with this fretless one. Although I've never played a fretless for more than a few minutes… read more before, I've always been drawn to their sound. This neck is a great choice because it's a very easy transition, with the dots and lines in the usual places. At first I was annoyed that the dots weren't right on the "fret" locations - they are in between the lines as though it were fretted. That actually was less confusing than I anticipated, and I knew I definitely didn't want a neck without the lines. It would make it more obvious the bass was fretless (and I want to sneak this into some non-jazz stuff), and without the lines I would have no clue where I am on the neck. It would've been nice to have dots in the middle of the neck (not just on the sides) but at least it looks a bit cleaner, that is nice. A common complaint in these reviews is the nut. So first of all, they come with the nut like this on purpose. You're *supposed* to use files to get the nut to fit with whatever string size, that's my understanding - that you must be prepared to adjust the nut, and install the tuning pegs, yes. This is why I had a luthier install it. The luth also mentioned that the nut string spacing was wonky, and sent a picture. "This is a common thing with Mex necks, but most people don't notice", he said. The nut had the G-string very close to the edge of the fretboard. He gave me a good price so I just had him toss it and make a bone nut from scratch. But I noticed when he gave me my old fretted neck back, with the strings off, that nut, too, had the G string spaced pretty close to the edge. I looked at the fancy new 5 string and it had the G string not quite as close, so I guess maybe he was right about that? So I can't speak to the nut other reviewers complain about, since I factored that in and went with the luth's skills and advice. The neck definitely had a 'bumpy' feel with the white little fret markers. It didn't bug me much, but the luthier sanded it a bit (and rubbed oil in it), and it definitely improved the feel against your hands. Maybe a good idea. Once installed, this neck definitely had the string/fretboard interaction with the ever-so-slight buzziness reminiscent of a double bass, especially on the G string. It sound surprisingly close to an upright bass, and not as thumpy as with the fretted neck. This neck on my super standard passive jazz bass sounds great and very very jazzy. I've always played it with flats, but if definitely changed the sound of the bass - more than I thought it would! I like the neck and the bass plays great.

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Fit's MIM Jazz perfectly, but nut is poor quality

Replaced the fretted neck on a 2011 MIM Jazz Bass - neck fit perfectly and all the original tuners fit perfectly too. Due to the lack of frets, you may need to shim the neck to get the action low. The only negative (a fairly big one, I guess), is that the nut has only pilot slots and it not pre-cut for string width. I used pro-grade slot files and the nut was so brittle that the… read more end between the G string the edge split off. Other areas splintered too. I had to replace the nut with a pre-cut one, which was fairly easy to do, however.

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Fretless Jazz Neck

Overall, it"s a really nice neck. However, I feel that the nut is really high for a fretless. It"ll take some filing to get it to play properly. I expected there to be some adjustment, but not this much on the nut.

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